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In the good old days, marketing and sales teams would base their strategies on the buying funnel, where the consumer was thought to travel from awareness to discovery to purchase. That was then–before cell phones, Instagram, Twitter, and Shopify. Nowadays, the way consumers go about it is entirely different.
According to industry experts, buying is no longer a linear process. Instead, the modern consumer is inspired by a series of “micro-moments.” Coined by Google’s marketing team, “Micro-moments occur when people reflexively turn to a device to act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something.”
Our phones allow us to scratch every mental itch almost immediately. As Google describes it, “I want-to-know moments, I want-to-go moments, I want-to-do moments, or I want-to-buy moments.” This changes the way we arrive at products and our inclination to purchase them or not.
Knowing that the consumer journey has changed, how can marketers align? Read on to learn some of the strategies that will help your brand keep up with this new plot twist!
Be Present
A great deal of us discover products out of the blue. We’re in line at the supermarket scrolling through our phones, open to purchasing an item, and suddenly a sponsored ad comes up. “I was originally looking for shoes, but I could use a Kindle. Why not?”
Your brand needs to be present where your target audience is consuming content. This will help you understand where your audience is most inspired, most inclined to buy something, and what lures them in. Nowadays, consumers are extremely curious and impatient so swooping in at the right time can make all the difference. Learning about micro-moments and anticipating how they come into play with your products can lead to an increase in conversions and a significant jump in brand engagement.
Avoid The Fluff
There’s a lot of content out there, so if you place yourself in front of your target audience at the right time, make sure that your time with them is useful and straightforward. Create messaging to address each of the micro-moments that the consumer may be feeling. Some examples:
- If you own a hotel with a popular restaurant and bar area, your website or ads should anticipate the basic needs of users looking to use your products/services immediately or in the near future: Book A Room, Reserve a Table, Directions, etc. If they are on your page, they are interested, so push for commitment. Make taking action easy.
- Separately, if you sell products. Describe your products without fluff and communicate your benefits quickly to lure the consumer in for a purchase. If they are on sale, create urgency by highlighting a sale or low inventory.
Uniform Messaging Across Devices
Brands need to remember that consumers use many devices. An example of this is a consumer that is looking to purchase an airbed for an upcoming trip. They begin a search on their phones, click on an ad, and investigate more into the brand that keeps coming up. Suddenly, they are interrupted by a call and head to their desk where they continue the search on their computer, expecting to find the same information as quickly as they had on their phones. They do! Because this brand has made the switch from a phone to the computer seamless and effortless, the airbed is purchased without further interruption.
Mobile Friendly
That said, make sure that your presence on mobile devices is top notch. Plenty of initial searches are addressed during these “micro-moments,” and returned to later on. “Of smartphone users, 82% consult their phones while they’re standing in a store deciding which product to buy. One in 10 of those end up buying a different product than they had planned.” This means that your mobile presence needs to adjust to all device screens, load quickly, and have visible contact information.
Understanding this new journey can help you strategize on where you need to be, how you need to be there, and what you need to say.
